


january

by aluinihi



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003)
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Party, Edward Elric is also in love but he is more responsible, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Roy Mustang is in love oh so in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:09:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22100002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aluinihi/pseuds/aluinihi
Summary: “Garcia told me a few days ago,” he said, “she mentioned Elicia was born on the day you were celebrating your birthday, and how she would love if you accepted to share a party with her.”“I wouldnever.”“Oh, I know.”
Relationships: Edward Elric/Roy Mustang
Comments: 12
Kudos: 192





	january

**Author's Note:**

> I was rewatching '03 one of these days and noticed that Elicia is born when Ed is celebrating his birthday at the Hughes'! it was definitely a surprise... a tiny detail I had no memory of. I have this headcanon that Ed is an Aquarius born around the end of January, and thus this fic was born.
> 
> It's just fluff. And they are pining idiots.
> 
> English is not my native language, sorry for any mistakes!

“ _Uncle Roy!_ ”

And just after the high-pitched scream came the excited bundle of energy, jumping in her fluffy pink dress to give Roy a tight hug. Elicia was a seven-year-old starting today and her forehead hit Roy right under his chest as her tiny arms squeezed him — a girl that would grow to be tall and strong one day. Roy picked her up, balancing both her and the birthday gift in his arms, and carried her inside the house to escape the blizzard and save her from a potential cold.

“God, you’re getting heavy!” he laughed. “You’re growing up too fast, slow down a bit!”

After kicking the door closed behind him, Roy put her down and she turned to him with a mildly offended scowl. “No, no, I want to grow up faster!” But her eyes softened when she spotted the box in Roy’s hand. _Children._

The gift elicited another loud noise of excitement and she ripped the rainbow-colored wrapping paper, so Roy figured he had done something right. Elicia grabbed his hand and dragged him down the hall to the living room, shouting for her mother to see the brand new addition to her childish possessions.

It was just a box of watercolors and two brushes but, to a little girl who had proudly proclaimed that in the future she would be an artist, it was certainly much more. Roy was glad he had picked that over the other gifts the office's secretaries suggested, even if Gracia shot him a look that said _Elicia will destroy all art materials in less than a week_.

He brushed her off.

The house was covered in flowers and _happy birthday_ decorations — children’s birthday parties are always extravagant, in Roy’s opinion, or at least the ones he’s been to. He walked over the place, shaking hands and kissing cheeks, making small-talks the smaller he could trying to get his eyes on his last mission. An introverted one, not shy but simply not interested in all those conventional social rituals, who much rather hide in the kitchen taking sips of his drink and laughing at whatever his friend was telling him.When Roy entered the room, the Rockbell girl gave him a pointed look. Roy smiled, offering peace and no judgments.

Edward turned to face him with a frown. Even with the _confused-slash-angry_ glare, Roy couldn’t help but feel his heart aching in— whatever emotion it was that ran through his veins with such intensity, the one he tried so hard to not give a name. He was dressed in casual clothes — Ed had always felt at home at the Hughes’ —, his hair tied up in a ponytail, leaning against the kitchen counter with his companion to his side. He opened his mouth to speak, probably dismiss Roy like he always did, but miss Rockbell smiled brightly and beat him to it.

“Good evening, General.”

“Good evening,” he greeted back. “Am I interrupting something?”

Edward shook his head and took a sip from a beer bottle, looking away. Miss Rockbell let out an emphatic _no!_ as if she was afraid Roy would assume something he shouldn’t.

“Please, General, it’s nothing like that!” And then hurried to change the topic. “May I get you something to drink? Beer, water, wine? I think they have apple juice somewhere, too…”

Roy chuckled. “Thank you, I’ll help myself.” He eyed Edward, who stared at the wall as if it offered unlimited occult knowledge, and shoved his nervousness away in an attempt to appear more casual. “If it isn’t much of an issue, would you mind if I borrowed Fullmetal for a few minutes?”

“A few minutes?” She elbowed Edward, a playful smirk curling her lips. “Do me a favor and keep him the whole night.”

And Roy managed to bite back _“with pleasure”_ just in time.

“Winry, _what the f—_ ”

“No cursing, think of the children,” she said, “and be nice.”

Miss Rockbell threw Roy another bright smile — albeit a little sympathetic — before making her way out of the kitchen, the skirt of her winter dress swaying with her steps.

Alone with Edward, the silence around them felt too solid to breech. Roy knew quite well what he should do, but at some point between wondering if he _must_ and being heartbreakingly in love with the man standing in front of him, the _how_ had escaped him. Swallowing dry, he stepped closer. The package inside his coat’s pocket got heavier each second that went by, slowing him down until he stopped by the counter.

Edwars stared at him with a frown — he was _always_ frowning, and Roy was always one bad decision away from smoothing the crease between his brows. Always one bad decision away from ruining whatever common ground they had found in the past years. But right now, should he go for a hug?

Instead, he took the gift in his hands and offered it to Edward alongside with the most confident smile he could muster.

Edward’s breath hitched, his eyes widening in surprise. The little teasing beast in the back of Roy’s mind howled in satisfaction, because _mortified_ was always a good look on Edward — especially when his cheeks reddened and his answer came in sputters. But at the same time, Roy’s heart sunk. Edward had never mentioned anything in the office, or anywhere they met. What if in the end, it was just another set of bad memories that Roy had managed to poke until it hurt?

However, slowly and hesitantly, Edward reached for the package. It was small, about the size of his hand, and Roy watched as he scrutinized the wrapping paper with the same amount of attention he dedicated to alchemical formulae.

His golden eyes went back to Roy, and he blinked in confusion. “Is this…?” 

“Happy birthday.”

And for some reason, that smacked the blushing button and his cheeks went from sweet pink to burning red.

“You didn’t— god, how do you even _know?_ ”

_I have read your entire file every night before going to bed for approximately two years of self-imposed exile._ “Garcia told me a few days ago,” he said, “she mentioned Elicia was born on the day you were celebrating your birthday, and how she would love if you accepted to share a party with her.”

“I would _never_.”

“Oh, I know.”

“Shit, this is so embarrassing.”

Roy tilted his head. That same sullen feeling overpowered his heart, like hesitating about something that was already finished. “I’m beginning to think I should apologize for the gift.”

“No!” He shook his head emphatically, but something about his gaze was still too insecure to reassure Roy. “I mean, it’s unexpected, but…”

Edward shook his head again, this time probably to himself, to put aside whatever it was that he was planning to add. His eyes went back to the small red package in his hand and, to an extent, Roy expected him to tear the paper in childish impatience. However, he ran his fingers over it with care until he found the end of the adhesive tape to pull it open. For that moment, Roy was lost, his eyes held captive by the contrast of skin and steel — _skin, steel, skin, and steel again_ —, glad that Edward was now capable of moving in a pace slow enough for him to keep up and admire from the distance.

The gift, in and of itself, was nothing that jaw-dropping. A few weeks ago, he had bumped into Edward Elric at a restaurant during lunch break. The man had been in his usual _Fullmetal_ behavior, scowling and huffing in irritation, but that time the reason behind his frustration had been very clear: a pocket-sized notebook, crumpled and stained with some kind of beverage, that he kept trying to fix without ruining whatever was written on the inside. After the sympathy that came with watching that scene and a careful observation that Edward did favor those tiny paperback notebooks, Roy had figured out what he could give him.

Edward’s eyes went from the object in his hands to Roy, then back to it, then to Roy again, and thus Roy answered the question he saw:

“It’s a notebook cover,” he explained. “You just have to put the back inside of that pouch-like thing and… well, I’m sure you know. The leather is thin and malleable enough to fit in pockets, but it should do its job of, well, protecting what is inside.”

Edward pulled out — _guess what,_ he probably carried it everywhere — a notebook from his pants’ back pocket, and Roy felt the insecurity building inside him once again. His palms were sweaty. He paid close attention to each movement Edward made. The notebook _fit_ inside the cover, Roy barely restrained himself from sighing in relief, and Edward smiled at the dark brown leather stripes as he tied them to close his notebook in a rushed knot.

Then, for an instant, the one on the receiving end of that breathtaking grin was Roy.

“Thank you.”

Roy’s ribs were not strong enough to keep his heart in his chest, not with how fast it was beating. It would shatter them as it exploded its way out. “Once again, happy birthday.”

Edward sighed, his cheeks still tinted red. Roy bit his tongue and didn’t say anything reckless.

“This is surreal,” he said, “ _you_ giving _me_ a fucking birthday gift.” Edward raised his hand as if in an impulse to hold Roy down, but stopped and backed away a few inches before reaching his arm. “Not to sound ungrateful, I just never tell anyone and it’s really out of character. And it’s a good gift.”

_Ouch_ — he chuckled at the bluntness.

“I suppose I hold you on higher esteem than you think.”

“Oh?” He grinned wickedly. “Then tell me about that esteem, _Mr. Knows the exact size of the notebooks I don’t use for work?_ ”

Roy cleared his throat — a mild reaction, in his opinion. “It’s, uh… high, you know, but not that high. It’s a _high_ even you can reach.”

“ _God_ , how do you ever get laid—”

“My charm is sure to be appreciated by those with _higher_ standards and _higher_ —”

In a flash of movement, Edward held the notebook and its brand new cover at neck-level. His golden eyes dared Roy to get closer and at the same time to run away — in the hands of a man like that, the object could be anything between a knife, crumpled paper, and humanity’s last hope. 

“One more joke about my height and I’m leaving.”

Roy smiled. “Please, don’t.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this was alright! It took me an embarrassingly long time to finish it lol
> 
> Twitter: @aluinihi  
> Tumblr: @a-lu-i


End file.
